Tagged: city budget

The Louisville Metro Council passed a city budget for the upcoming fiscal year Thursday, but not before a contentious debate about the Whiskey Row development.

Mayor Greg Fischer submitted a spending plan that included a $500,000 allocation for private developers—among them philanthropist Christy Brown, the widow of former chairman of the Brown-Forman Corp, Owsley Brown II—to restore the historic string of buildings along West Main Street.

The mayor had proposed using the money to create a revolving fund to help restore historic properties beginning with Whiskey Row, but a bipartisan group of council members argued Metro Government had already provided investors with a $1.5 million forgivable loan for the project.

The budget committee approved language in the ordinance on Wednesday that required developers to reimburse the city $1 million if the Whiskey Row buildings were later sold. But Fischer's office argued it was an unprecedented step by the council that could jeopardize the original agreement.

Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh, D-9, introduced an amendment to take that wording out of the final ordinance, but allow lawmakers to hold the money until Fischer renegotiates the deal.  She says lawmakers unfairly tied the mayor's hands to negotiate.

"I'm asking you to allow the mayor do his job and negotiate a deal, and when he brings it over if you don't like it then don't vote for it," she said. "Let's debate it at that time because we're not doing it tonight. This really isn't about debating the merits of rich folks spending money on preservation or not. If anything, this is a power and money grab by the Metro Council."

The Louisville Metro Council's Budget Committee passed a spending plan for the upcoming 2012-13 fiscal year by a unanimous vote.

Mayor Greg Fischer submitted his budget proposal to the council earlier this month, which had been criticized for its lack of funding to external agencies and hammered for cuts to indigent care at University Hospital.

Similar to last year, the council reallocated nearly $3 million in funds and added over $400,000 to non-profit groups for their programing.

City lawmakers were able to come up with those additional funds in part through an agreement with the Parking Authority of River City to make a payment of $300,000 in cash this year with additional payments of $150,000 over the next five fiscal years.

These additional funds were requested by council members who raised questions about a late transfer and payment for the two county parking garages that the city never received. 

The budget also includes money to focus on dealing with the problem of abandoned and vacant properties with close to $40,000 in funds being spent to mow grass at vacant lots throughout the city.

Metro Mayor Greg Fischer presented his proposed city budget to the metro council last week. WFPL's Phillip M. Bailey covered the budget announcement and has been following reactions from council members, external agencies, and private citizens. He joined us Friday on Byline to talk about how the budget proposal has been received—including the controversial $500,000 for Whiskey Row renovations.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has resisted offers to privatize the city's parking despite pressure from out-of-town companies.

The mayor is selling two downtown garages for $10.7 million to the Parking Authority of River City to help balance the budget. But PARC is a quasi-government agency that operates several downtown lots and garages for Metro Government.

Council members have questioned why those properties are being sold to a city agency and not put up for competitive bid to potentially gain more for the structures.

Louisville Chief Financial Officer Steve Rowland says the city has had several offers to privatize parking since Fischer took office, but the administration isn't interested.

"If we were to sell all our parking garages to the private sector, we would lose control over what the rates would be and we would possibly drive out over time businesses out of the downtown area because parking is a key cost to their employees," he says.

Hearing testimony from Chief Financial Officer Steve Rowland, the Louisville Metro Council's Budget Committee began its review of the mayor's proposed spending plan on Monday.

Mayor Greg Fischer's latest budget balances the city's books without raising taxes, cutting city services or furloughing Metro employee. However, council members spent most of the time grilling the administration about the budget's reliance on the sale of two downtown garages to the parking authority.

The city is selling two downtown parking lots to the Parking Authority of River City for $10.7 million and selling two garages for $3.9 million. PARC technically purchased the garages from the former county government at merger nine years ago, but the payment was never received.

Budget Committee Vice Chairman Kelly Downard, R-16, says the mayor's agreement is unacceptable because PARC owes much more money for the garages after Metro Government paid bonds on the structures since merger.

"They’ve been taking income off this—net income—for seven to nine years, that’s our money. We’ve been paying the bonds down, good lord," he says. "I think PARC’s got a problem because they have been taking our money on a garage they didn’t pay for, on debt that we’ve been paying and I think there’s a serious problem here."

City lawmakers from southwest Louisville are praising Mayor Greg Fischer's decision to fund construction of the Southwest Regional Library in his latest city budget proposal.

The $9.5 million bond for the library is the largest expenditure in the mayor's capital budget and the only proposed bond. It follow's up a $500,000 allocation the mayor made last year to begin the design phase of the long-planned project.

The library foundation will also give the city $3.5 million for the facility.